Four Students Honored in Nation-Wide Russian Essay-Writing Contest

June 06, 2013

Four Lewis & Clark students – Sarah Mills, Katherine Palomares, Ana Frigo, and Katerina Solomanjuk – have been honored as winners in the NPSREC, the National Post-Secondary Russian Essay-Writing Contest. Run by the American Council for the Teachers of Russian (ACTR), the contest pitted over 1000 students from over 50 institutions from across the country.

The winning essays, written in Russian, are sent to Russia and judged by a panel of experts on creativity as well as elegance and accuracy of expression; first, second, and third-place medals, as well as honorable mentions, are awarded at the level of first-year, second-year, third-year, and fourth-year students of Russian, with a special category for heritage speakers.

Sarah Mills (right, above) received a bronze medal at the first year level, Katherine Palomares (left, above) received an honorable mention at the second-year level, Ana Frigo (center) received an honorable mention at the third-year level, and Katerina Solomanjuk (not pictured) received a silver medal in the advanced heritage speakers category.

With its two medals and two honorable mentions, the Lewis & Clark Russian program has done better than Middlebury (two honorable mentions), Colgate (two honorable mentions), Amherst and Princeton (one medal or honorable mention each); and tied Columbia (a much bigger program) – who had one medal and three honorable mentions.

The wins show, therefore, that students from Lewis & Clark’s Russian program are not only creative, unusual, driven human beings – they are also nationally strong at all levels of their studies. It is not a surprise that they go on to win Fulbright scholarships, join graduate programs, and find interesting jobs in Russia and the US.

See the Russian program page for further information on the successes of our current and former students.

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